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The Tebow Party Moves Its Big Tent East

I was not a Jets fan on Wednesday morning. Like many football fans around the country, I was reveling in the schadenfreude of the Jets’ folly, of Rex Ryan’s busted guarantees, of the circular firing squad in the locker room, of Mark Sanchez’s high-profile failures.

I am a Tim Tebow fan. And so, as it turns out, I am now a Jets fan, too.

The legion of zealous fans who cheer for Tebow — call us the Tebow Party — is unlike anything else in sports. Michael Jordan had as many admirers as any other athlete in history, but they didn’t all become Wizards fans when he moved to Washington. Edmonton Oilers fans worshiped Wayne Gretzky, but they didn’t all exchange their blue-and-orange sweaters for the black and silver of the Kings when he was traded to Los Angeles.

Tebow Party devotion is nearly evangelical — converts experience the Tebow phenomenon, then begin rooting for him like crazy. Many found him when he arrived at the University of Florida and immediately helped the Gators win a national title. Others came on board during his Heisman-winning sophomore season, when we learned about his equal dedication to winning and to community service. Still others joined during his junior year, punctuated by his eye-black Bible verses and another title. More still arrived when he was a senior, a year of hysteria appropriately kicked off when Tebow was asked at a season-opening news conference if he was a virgin.

Photo

Tim Tebow T-shirts were prepared for sale at a sporting goods store in Times Square last week. Those blue No. 15 Broncos jerseys now go to the back of the closet, to be replaced by a nice, new jersey in Jets green.Credit
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The passion he stirred in fans as a college athlete carried into the N.F.L. Tebow fans — many without allegiance to a pro team — were quick to jump on the Broncos’ bandwagon when Denver drafted him in 2010. Broncos fans were welcoming, and any skepticism about our mutual faith in Tebow was eliminated as he led the team to the playoffs in 2011.

The Tebow bandwagon grew, and we offered a big tent. On its face, Tebowmania appeals to many fans who appreciate his personally evangelical spiritual mission. But I’m a secularly focused Jewish liberal who lived in New York City for most of the last 15 years, hardly the stereotypical exurbanite religious conservative Tebow fan. I and many like me found it easy to believe in Tebow’s essential humanism: work hard and good things will happen. That foundation fits with the ethos of New York, where right now some 25-year-old developer is grinding to build the next big technology company.

Jets fans will like Tebow fandom. Like great underdog stories? Tebow is your guy. Enjoy fantasy football? Tebow has nearly singlehandedly won championships for fantasy players. Appreciate lively sports TV and talk-radio debate? The news media devote endless hours to arguing over Tebow. Fascinated by silly Internet memes? I give you last season’s Tebowing. Want a model of someone who aspires to do the right thing in his daily life? Jets defensive back Antonio Cromartie complained about Tebow on Twitter but backed off quickly; we’re a forgiving bunch, and he is welcome on the bandwagon.

And so we Tebow fans have left our Broncos behind and are on to the next team. My blue Broncos Tebow jersey is buried in the back of the closet; green and white is a drastically new look.

It is an unusual kind of fandom, rooting for the player and not the team — or, more accurately, the player, then the team. In a way, it is a deviant lifestyle choice for the typical sports fan, who roots for the jersey no matter whose name is on the back.

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Tim Tebow’s fans show allegiance first to him, then to his team.Credit
Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

But in another way, it is precisely the same kind of relationship at the core of every person’s fandom, in our case adapted for a player, not a team. Unconditional support? Check. Reckless spending on branded clothes and memorabilia? Check. Yelling at the TV, calling up the talk-radio show and posting largely irrational rantings on Twitter? Check. And is groaning “Ugh! Bench Sanchez!” really that far from what die-hard Jets fans were saying long before Tebow was in the picture?

Here is the new reality of player-based versus team-based support: As a soulless team like the Mets continues to act as if its fans barely matter, which kind of choice shows more faith that might ultimately be redeemed?

Here is what we Tebow fans know — what even the most skeptical Jets fans or Tebow haters will come to know. He makes plays. He wins games. He inspires his teammates. He works hard. He is active in the community. He sells newspapers and jerseys.

Belief that Tebow will ultimately help the Jets isn’t blind faith typical of team fandom (“Maybe next year!”) as much as it is faith that we know what we have seen before and feel certain it will happen again. Die-hard Jets fans may not appreciate him today (they almost certainly will not initially appreciate Tebow fans who parade around in our new Jets jerseys), but just wait for that first touchdown, that decisive 2-point conversion, that critical first-down lunge. People of all football faiths quickly find common ground at the top of the N.F.L. standings. That success is the promise of Tebow on your team and why we are so happy to join you.

But as we newly intermingle — the Tebow faithful and the New York skeptics — perhaps it is the Tebow fans who welcome Jets fans to a winning team, not the other way around.

Dan Shanoff created TimTeblog.com in 2009 and is the founder of Quickish.com.

A version of this article appears in print on March 25, 2012, on Page SP13 of the New York edition with the headline: The Tebow Party Moves Its Big Tent East. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe